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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video. Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Mona Charen, NRO, in re:  Underground meeting of the Save the Republicans Club.  . . . there’s no communications dept in the Party; none.  Fundraising doesn’t exist – large donors are missing, but so are he small donor  Priebus asked Trump to call 20 major donor; he called three and then quit.  Quit. Why?  Also, digital management: need to “touch” 9digitally) each voter three times.   The candidate disdains this.   . . . The stage we're at now: people reckoning with the reality that he can't rewrite the rules of politics, nor prevail without a staff; that his claims to self-fund were false (I could jut sell a building”). Plus they’re looking at the polls and seeing a potential massacre for the whole Republican Party , incl downballot.   Need to say, a political Party needn’t be the slave of primary voters.  ”Massacre to come” – 70% of voters have an unfavorable view of Trump, 89% of Hispanic; 53% of whites without a college degree, also 34%of Republicans. 
Duncan Hunter, co-chair of Trump’s House Leadership Committee, said, he shouldn't be confused with Trump ______.   Trump slammed the door on the Washington Post. Why is he making war on the media?  In the auld days, we looked up to Party elders for their wisdom; we're so far past that now that  . . .  The fact that Trump is the presumed nominee is a test of his skills to reach out to voters, which he has not done.  Meanwhile, we get news that he’s now founding Trump TV Network. That’s what this has all been about!  Let us hear from a graybeard set out a scenario where the rules committee changes he rules and unbinds the delegate. First we need a mob to march on the castle – and we've got the bigger crowd.   The Party shouldn't be a suicide pact; but there’s worship of . . . If that were true, Duncan Hunter would have a backbone.   Next we’ll turn to the den of wolves of the Democratic Party and choose a vice-president for Mrs Clinton. Not Bernie Sanders. Bernie doesn’t get it. Bernie wouldn't get it if he woke up with a horsehead in his bed.
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re:  Mrs Clinton’s ratings are up, even in Utah, where there is no Democrat. Whom for VP?  Rule out Elizabeth Warren; we're going center.  The Senator from VA. Tim Kane – dull, plain, speaks Spanish.  He’s in a state with a Dem gov, so his replacement will be Dem.  Julian Castro, former mayor of San Antonio?  Has a thin resume; then at HUD (“frog-ridden”).  Sherrod Brown (violates Harry Reid’s rule); liberal but amenable to Mrs Clinton’s centrist move.  Bernie Sanders is deaf.    He’s been boring people all his life and now at 70 he’s a rock star! They’ll have to drag him out by his ankles.  Disagree – she’ll go left, which h is now the center of the Party.  Surprised by how hard Clinton is hitting Trump?  No – he’s the biggest, fattest target you can find. 
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re:  The Republican convention is bound by no state law, whatsoever; is completely allowed to change its mind at any point. Rules Committees [shift the terrain]  regularly, from 1856 to 2012; the GOP is a private, voluntary club.  It's organized by state’s in New York, for example, it’s Ed Cox.  He has a lot of discretion about how to present issues to his delegates.
The GOP has state chairmen, and it’s organized like the Congregational Church: 50 independent agents, plus all the territories.
Cleveland; Donald Trump has about 32 days before the convention opens; he’s not hiring staff, delivers incoherent messaging. This 70-yr-old man is not about to change; is falling farther behind Hillary, he did not get a bounce out of the Orlando terrorist attack.
Rules Committee meets and proposes rules for the convention.  If they don't, the delegates are not bound. Also, there’s and incipient, burning revolt. Colorado is in open revolt.  Other delegations are being batted down by Trump agents’ using everything from gentle persuasion to intimidation.
Is there worse than Utah being a battleground state?  Gary Johnson at 11% polls – making it ever harder for Trump to win over Hillary. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, there are signals that Scott Walker would be willing to step in in a pinch.  New York Times piece on an unlikely savior: G  W Bush raising money for other Republicans to save the Senate.
Jeb Bush raised $150 mil and got not one delegate.  Bush family has the pulse of the donors.   The cure for establishment problems may be worse than the disease. 
No Trump response today for Mrs Clinton’s video on the one-year anniversary of Mr Trump’s announcement to enter the fray.
GOP leaders suffer from Stockholm syndrome.
Were Trump anything but a presidential candidate – say, Todd Aiken, or any of the others – he’d be bounced out.  At this rate of bleeding, far more Republicans will be staying home or voting for Clinton.  Ross-Lehtinen stated: “I will not vote for Trump, I will not vote for Clinton.”  So have other public figures.  Keeping the Senate extends to the Court.
The House: with Trump further behind, GOP might lose 20 or 30 seats and hold on by fingernails.  Is the chairman gathering people together? There’s a crisis in the Party.
If you’re a delegate you can get a list of delegates; if you're on the Rules Committee, you cannot get a list of the Rules Committee.  They'll arrive in Cleveland and be blindfolded.   This is the time for transparency.  Sarah Ellison and Jonathan Chait: both speculate that Trump is doing this—that is, starting a TV channel— to translate his notoriety into cash.
Trump is intimidating and threatening people all over.  Trump’s mob was significant till March; but now the mob opposing him is growing larger.
Trump’s mob has anger; the opposition has fear.  Anger is more powerful than fear.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/06/16/exclusive-trump-s-yuge-fundraising-not-so-yuge.html
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Even Chait is looking for an explanation of the MIA/DOA Trump campaign . . . http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/trump-campaign-a-scheme-to-launch-trump-tv.html
More:  "Either they want to get behind the presumptive nominee who will be the nominee of this party and make sure that we do everything we can to win in November or we're just asking them if they can't do that, then just shut the hell up," Clovis said. "That's what we're asking them to do."
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/sam-clovis-trump-gop-224416#ixzz4Bl6xzZSN
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“I do not support Hillary Clinton,” Kirk said in response, according to audio posted by BuzzFeed, “and I told the public that I did not support Donald Trump, either. I think he’s too bigoted and racist for the Land of Lincoln.”
Kirk will instead write in former CIA Director David Petraeus.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/mark-kirk-trump-racist-224427#ixzz4Bl7AL3mY
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and the death warrant:  While Trump had promised Priebus that he would call two dozen top GOP donors, when RNC chief of staff Katie Walsh recently presented Trump with a list of more than 20 donors, he called only three before stopping, according to two sources familiar with the situation. It’s unclear whether he resumed the donor calls later.
Meanwhile, there’s deep skepticism on Trump’s campaign about the RNC’s commitment to the presumptive GOP nominee, with some campaign officials questioning how hard the RNC is working to help Trump and to raise money for his campaign’s joint committees with the party.
Indeed, faced with suggestions that party leaders are unhappy with Trump’s incendiary rhetoric about the Orlando shooting and the judge presiding over a lawsuit against the candidate and his Trump University, campaign insiders scoffed.
“I don’t think we are going to take a lot of political advice from Priebus,” a campaign official said. “From my perspective, we should not be relying on the RNC for much, because I’m not sure they are fully supportive yet,” the campaign official said, adding “but we hope and expect to soon be on the exact same page.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-republican-national-committee-224403#ixzz4Bl7Qphjn
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Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re:  The Fed. Brexit.   Janet Yellin again did not raise rates. Confidence inht Fed? No no no. It's adrift; has embarked on a course of monetary adventurism the likes of which we've never seen before, has bought bonds for billions and billions of dollars; has so manipulated prices in this economy and encourage speculation we have no idea what he effects will be. They issue estimates every quarter and always are wrong.
John Taylor, of Hoover (Taylor Rule)  says you cannot create growth through interventionism in the economy, We need predictability, strong and stable dollar; banks able to lend. When the feds buy bonds at these rates you distort prices and rates.  Joe Sternberg (WSJ) in London:  a young British pol, mother of two, was assassinated yesterday, shot in the street.  This is the second time the UK has gone through a wrenching referendum on its future; first, on Scotland , where the Tories miscalculated and were saved by a hair, but Brexit Leave was ahead till this tragedy.  Brings into question, would Scotland stay in Britain?
 
Hour Two
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the UN, in re: Israel at the UN.
         http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-un-idUSKCN0YZ2FT
         http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/assembly-elects-israel-committee-chair-time-39830481
         http://hamodia.com/2016/06/14/israeli-ambassador-tells-off-u-n-rights-council/
         http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-israel-elected-to-head-a-permanent-un-committee/
         http://www.unwatch.org/un-vilifies-israel-worlds-violator-health-rights/
 
Danny Danon is an Israeli politician who currently serves as Israel's envoy to the United Nations. Danon was previously a member of the Knesset for Likud, Minister of Science, Technology and Space, Technology and Space and Deputy Minister of Defense. He served among others as Chairman of World Likud, Member of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, Member of the Zionist Executive of World Zionist Organization and Chairman of the World Betar Executive.
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Malcolm Hoenlein, & Mark Dubowitz, FDD, in re: Iran and financing.
         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/dubowitz-mark-the-obama-administration-needs-to-stand-strong-on-iran-sanctions/
         https://www.aei.org/publication/iran-the-contrast-between-sovereignty-and-moral-legitimacy/
Mark Dubowitz is the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan policy institute, where he leads projects on Iran, sanctions, and nonproliferation. A former venture capitalist and technology executive, Mark heads FDD’s Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. He co-leads The Iran Task Force and is co-chair of the Project on U.S. Middle East Nonproliferation Strategy.  
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  Malcolm Hoenlein, & Danielle Pletka, AEI, in re:   . . . al Qaeda, IS, Yemen, Hezbollah, Nasrullah, Bashar al Assad, Russians.  We’re facing a growing a challenge of battle-hardened Sunni and Shia fighters, from all over.  Iran now has the Artash on the ground in addition to IRGC.  Iran is pouring a great deal more money into its pals after the lifting of sanctions. They prioritize it, cannot lose Assad, and propitiate Russian and heir own fighters.
         https://www.aei.org/publication/six-questions-we-should-ask-after-orlando/
         https://www.aei.org/publication/the-existential-threat-of-islamist-extremism/
         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/internet-security-and-privacy-in-the-age-of-the-islamic-state
         http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Controversy-over-military-strategy-reportedly-ignites-fight-between-Assad-forces-and-Hezbollah-456905
         http://www.timesofisrael.com/intelligence-minister-warns-megalomanic-hezbollah-chief/
Danielle Pletka is senior vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she oversees the institute’s work on foreign and defense issues. She writes regularly on national security matters with a special focus on Iran (weapons proliferation), the Middle East (Syria, Israel, ISIS, the Arab Spring), and South Asia.
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Hamas and IS.  “It's said that if Hamas again commits grave provocations, it will occasion the last Hamas war.  This is a terrible prospect but no nation can indefinitely allow an adjacent territory regularly to send over countless rockets into civilian areas, and dig enormous tunnels to directly under schools, homes, and gathering places in order wither to murder or kidnap for ransom. 
 
Hour Three
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Richard A. Epstein, Hoover, via Defining Ideas,   in re: Illinois on the Fiscal Brink  Tax-and-spend policies have bankrupted the state, but Democrats refuse to accept structural reforms.   According to the progressive playbook, politicians should disrupt the operation of competitive markets to supply hefty short-term benefits to their friends and political allies. Then, they should have the state borrow money to put off paying the tab. In Illinois, the dam broke on public employee pensions back in 1994 when the ubiquitous Madigan and then-Republican governor Jim Edgar struck a deal which back-loaded funding for state pension plans, as the Illinois Policy Institute reports. Their compromise plan called for smallish contributions in the early years for pensions that would come due only years later—that is, now. The thought was that someone else could pick up the pieces in the next period.
But it never quite works out that way. Today, the state’s unfunded pension liabilities have increased to nearly $100 billion with no relief in sight. The situation becomes only worse considering that the 1970 Illinois Constitution contains an explicit provision under which every pension obligation “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired,” which this past March led to striking down state legislation to modify the annuity benefits for current and future workers, without their consent.  (1 of 2)
http://www.hoover.org/research/illinois-fiscal-brink?utm_source=hdr&utm_...
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:  Richard A. Epstein, Hoover, via Defining Ideas,   in re: Illinois on the Fiscal Brink  Tax-and-spend policies have bankrupted the state, but Democrats refuse to accept structural reforms.  We got into this mess with bad governance; can we get out of it with good governance?  A hundred billion dollars of unfunded mandates over he foreseeable future with no increased taxes.  The left wants to increase taxes on the rich to 8% or more; which will send productive people out even more rapidly. This was tried in 2010 and failed.   Govt has to put all its money in fixed-income securities — now at .01%.  This is a prescription for requisite services cutbacks. (2 of 2)
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Camille Pecastaing, Johns Hopkins, in re: Shockism & the Age of Celebrity. The word “terrorism” entered the lexicon in the late eighteenth century. What was then a neologism has since become such a familiar term that its meaning has been stretched rather thin. Current events demand that our vocabulary be expanded to acknowledge an essential distinction between terrorism and what could be called “shockism.” Terrorism uses violence to set in motion a political dynamic. “Shockism” uses violence to induce revulsive publicity. There is some overlap between the two, but they should not be confused, and it is critical to understand that the hateful acts that make the news today—such as the recent mass shooting in Orlando—are one part terrorism and two parts shockism . . .    (1 of 2) http://www.hoover.org/research/orlando-act-shockism
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: Camille Pecastaing, Johns Hopkins, in re: Shockism & the Age of Celebrity. The word “terrorism” entered the lexicon in the late eighteenth century. What was then a neologism has since become such a familiar term that its meaning has been stretched rather thin. Current events demand that our vocabulary be expanded to acknowledge an essential distinction between terrorism and what could be called “shockism.” Terrorism uses violence to set in motion a political dynamic. “Shockism” uses violence to induce revulsive publicity. There is some overlap between the two, but they should not be confused, and it is critical to understand that the hateful acts that make the news today—such as the recent mass shooting in Orlando—are one part terrorism and two parts shockism . . .    (2 of 2) http://www.hoover.org/research/orlando-act-shockism
  
Hour Four
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: SpaceX launches two satellites, first-stage landing fails.  ULA pinpoints cause of Atlas 5 premature shutdown.   McCain agrees to Russian engine compromise.   Orbital ATK delays next Antares launch following static fire test.  Newly discovered asteroid a quasi-satellite of Earth
2.  ExoMars takes first Mars pictures. Opportunity moves on from Marathon Valley. Direct image of exoplanet. (1 of 2)
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: SpaceX launches two satellites, first-stage landing fails.  ULA pinpoints cause of Atlas 5 premature shutdown.   McCain agrees to Russian engine compromise.   Orbital ATK delays next Antares launch following static fire test.  Newly discovered asteroid a quasi-satellite of Earth
2.  ExoMars takes first Mars pictures. Opportunity moves on from Marathon Valley. Direct image of exoplanet. (2 of 2)
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  Patrick Tucker, DefenseOne, in re:  A Look at the Military’s New Stealth Bikes.   These motorcycles of the future are turning heads at special operations conference in Florida.
TECHNOLOGY  Can the Navy’s Electric Cannon Be Saved?
TECHNOLOGY   Drone-Helicopter Teams Performing ‘Very Well’ Against ISIS
SPECIAL OPERATIONS
ISIS
TERRORISM   America’s New Special Operations Commander Wants to Predict the Future (1 of 2)
Thursday  16 June 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   Patrick Tucker, DefenseOne, in re:  A Look at the Military’s New Stealth Bikes.   These motorcycles of the future are turning heads at special operations conference in Florida.
TECHNOLOGY  Can the Navy’s Electric Cannon Be Saved?
TECHNOLOGY   Drone-Helicopter Teams Performing ‘Very Well’ Against ISIS
SPECIAL OPERATIONS
ISIS
TERRORISM   America’s New Special Operations Commander Wants to Predict the Future (2 of 2)
 
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